Living Clean and Free

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[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text disable_pattern=”true” align=”left” margin_bottom=”0″][mk_dropcaps style=”simple-style”]T[/mk_dropcaps]RANSPORTATION IS A major contributor to energy needs and the second largest producer of city greenhouse gas emissions, something Vancouver is trying to combat “by encouraging people to walk more and take public transit and ride bicycles,” says Malcolm Shield, the city’s climate program manager. Indeed, the city has already reached its 2020 goal of having 50 per cent of all trips made in the city by walking, cycling or public transit. Vancouver now boasts a 265-kilometre network of bike routes and ridership is increasing.

“Vancouver has really done well with transportation,” observes Ian Bruce, manager of science and policy with the David Suzuki Foundation. “Despite an increasing population, they have managed to buck the North American trend by reducing traffic in the downtown core. Not many cities can claim that.”

Despite the surging number of cyclists, major transit improvements, including a $2.8-billion east-west subway line along the Broadway corridor, will be needed to hit Vancouver’s proposed target of making two-thirds of all trips in the city by bicycle, foot or public transit by 2040. Where the money is going to come from is unclear. In a 2015 referendum, voters rejected a proposal for a 0.5 per cent sales-tax increase to help fund $7.5-billion worth of upgrades of the transit system.

Impressive results have also been achieved in Vancouver’s battle against waste. Because landfills produce about 25 per cent of Canada’s methane emissions, a powerful greenhouse gas, the city’s action plan set a goal of reducing solid waste going to the landfill or incinerator by 50 per cent from 2008 levels with a future goal of generating zero waste. To date, 55 per cent of Vancouver’s municipal waste is recycled, about twice the national average.

As well, a green demolition bylaw passed in 2014 states that one- or two-family homes built before 1940 must divert 70 per cent to 90 per cent of waste during demolition, a move that the city estimates will divert up to 9,000 tonnes of waste that would normally be deposited in the landfill.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][mk_button dimension=”three” size=”large” outline_skin=”dark” outline_active_color=”#fff” outline_hover_color=”#333333″ bg_color=”#13bdd2″ text_color=”light” icon=”moon-next” url=”/living-clean-and-free/5/” target=”_self” align=”right” fullwidth=”false” margin_top=”0″ margin_bottom=”15″ animation=”scale-up”]
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